Morality in Question
by One percent
Summary: We got many variations on what happens after Vash brings an injured Knives to the insurance girls, but never this particular one. A few comments from a certain killer will leave the girls questioning the definition or morality.
1. Chapter 1

**Morality in Question**

 **Story by: TheHamsterofDeath**

* * *

 **A/N:** In this story, Knives does _**not**_ have mind reading or mass manipulation power. Because if he had, he would have subdued all of mankind instead of wasting a hundred years on a few specimen. Isn't that like having both a Geass power and a supposedly high IQ and not taking over the world? If he convinces anybody, it is with the power of rhetoric or whatever.

 _Italics_ represent Meryl's thoughts.

Have fun. :)

* * *

 _What is he thinking? Does he want to kill me?_

Meryl wasn't sure if it was a good idea to have Knives around. Even if injured, he seemed dangerous and she didn't know anything about plant metabolism. He could fake being immobile for all she knew, and then escape.

The more she thought about it, the more the idea of calling the sheriff seemed appealing.

If she didn't, she would be an outlaw, or worse, contribute to nursing back to health the man who might very well be the end of her species. But if she did turn him in, she would betray Vash. That idiot didn't think any of his plans through. His actions made no sense. And she was the one having the problem because of it. She should run away and pretend to not know that crazy guy. Far away, where nobody knew her. She could start a new life and let Vash handle things here. He was the only one who could, but at the same time, failed at that.

It had already been a week. A week of mulling over the question and meeting dead ends and questionable ideas.

 _I could poison him and blame an infection. Vash wouldn't be able to tell._

Thoughts like these filled her head. At first, it surprised her, but the more she thought about the killer -no, genocidal psychopath- in their house, the more it sounded _right_.

A solution must be found, that much was certain. But which one, and how? So far, Meryl had no idea. She had to play along until a way out became available.

"Mr. Millions, your food is ready. I am going to feed you," she announced while entering his room. "Please don't spit at me." Not that he ever did that, but she hoped that this outrageous statement would trigger some kind of answer.

He did not respond.

What might be going on in his head? He didn't look angry, but scheming. What could his evil plan be?

 _It must be very displeasing to him to be spoon-fed. I hope he doesn't plot his revenge against **me** for that._

She checked some of his wounds. They healed fast, but not too fast. For now, Knives was still unable to stand or use his arms. He could have – had he wanted to – spoken to her.

After feeding the helpless evil mastermind, Meryl got up and walked out of the room. Backwards, to be sure.

* * *

The next time, it was dinner, he still didn't talk. But Meryl wanted to force him. She was unable to come to a decision and needed something to move on before her time ran out.

"Once you get better, you will escape, won't you?" she asked.

Knives didn't answer directly, but his facial expression was somewhat approving.

"Of course you will. And then you will hide somewhere and go on with your plans."

After a moment, Knives spoke for the first time.

"How could you have any doubt?"

That tone chilled her to the bone. Condescending, patronizing, mocking all at once. But more than that, completely in control.

 _This guy is dangerous. He must be taken care of._

But Meryl had no idea how to poison him. To which poisons would Knives react at all, to which would he be immune? Maybe she would have to sacrifice her relationship to Vash to save Knives' future victims? How to even get the right poison once she knew which one she should use?

Maybe she could get a scorpion or a spider from a shady guy and leave it alone with Knives?

 _No, not sure enough._

* * *

The next time, breakfast, Knives began to talk by himself.

"Did the thought of killing me cross your mind yet? I am helpless, it would be easy. Just take a gun and shoot me."

Meryl became pale.

"But you can't. Vash would interfere. This is the most ridiculous situation I have ever found myself in."

He looked at the bread that Meryl had been feeding him before he started to speak.

"More please."

He chewed on it while staring at the ceiling, then, after swallowing, continued. "The best way would be poison, I think. You could blame an infection. Vash would probably buy any reason, even if you said you had no idea. The fool doesn't really know the specifics of our bodies, it would be the perfect loophole. He would be sad, of course, but you would get away with it. He wouldn't suspect you, and you would be the secret heroine. How does that sound?"

He took another bite and added "But you have a time limit. If you cannot do it fast enough, I _will_ escape."

 _Why is he telling me this? Does he **want** me to kill him?_

She gathered a bit of courage and boldly stated: "I could bring some poison, and you drink it yourself. Then I would have a clear conscience. How does that sound?"

A shadow of a smirk played on his lips upon hearing that. "Ah, so there is some rationality left in you."

 _He tested me?_

"Let me ask you a simple question then," he continued, "Imagine, if you can, that there is a train racing toward five miserable humans who are tied to the track. The train conductor won't see them until it is too late. Assume you are standing on a bridge, having a good view of what is about to happen and there is a completely random fat stranger standing next to you. All you need to do is push him off the bridge, and although he will topple onto the rails and die, the train will be stopped and the lives of the five people would be spared. So tell me, would you do it?"(*)

"No!"

It just came out of her, without her thinking about it first.

"Why not?"

"Well, I... that would make me a murderer. On the other hand, those five people dying would be an accident, I would be innocent."

"So your innocence is worth more than five human lives?"

* * *

His question got stuck in Meryl's mind, and she pondered about it during lunch and dinner. The order in which the three of them took care of feeding Knives and treating his wounds was more or less random, but Meryl tended to draw the short straw most of the time, and assumed something was fishy about that. Though she didn't blame poor Milly. The man she was forced to take care of was the one responsible for the death of her lover. Not to mention that he was the one who ordered human experimentation to be done on him, stealing his youth and his innocence forever. Meryl couldn't help but wonder how Milly dealt with it, but the brave girl always showed a smiling face.

Vash on the other hand had no excuse. Stupid broom-head who couldn't even kill his own brother to save the world... Her thoughts made a pause. That was what they had been discussing the day before. How much innocence was worth in human lives? Vash was nice. He really was. He chose to never take a life. In this time and place, it was the hardest decision to make, and she admired him for sticking to it, but ironically, every time he spared a criminal, someone innocent most likely died later as a consequence.

When she entered the room, Knives greeted her with a "So, what is your conclusion?"

"There is no correct answer. Everybody chooses for himself what is best."

"Now you disappoint me. That is not logical. It would hurt me to say such a thing, and even _you_ should at least feel a bit uncomfortable. Vash wouldn't, that I am sure of. He is a walking contradiction."

 _He is right... This is just an excuse._

"What is the correct answer then?"

"As you said, there is no correct answer. But nobody chooses for himself what is best. There are many possible answers, depending on how you rate the value of a life. Some basic assumptions allow you to pick a clear answer."

Meryl didn't want to show it, but she was curious what those answers might be. She spent one day thinking and didn't find one that was really satisfying. But what hit her the most was the fact that Vash's brother was so... logical. How could someone who did such abominable things be able to trap her into his reasoning? She had thought he would hide in weak excuses and rationalizations, but instead, he was confronting her about her preconceptions and she failed to find convincing answers.

* * *

"Well, assume you hate every human," he said during her next visit, "What is the correct answer?"

"You let the train kill 5 people."

"Wrong."

Confusion.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it is better to let the train kill 5 people and then kick the fat one off the bridge."

 _Ah, so you can kill 6._

"But there are more answers," he continued, "Maybe there is someone you want dead among the 5, then you must sacrifice the 4 others. Maybe you want to traumatize the train conductor, then you must sacrifice the 5. Maybe you want the train to be late, then you must sacrifice the fat one. It all depends on your goals."

 _But what about morals?_

"But... it's wrong to kill people!"

"Why?"

He couldn't possibly be asking her that. Wasn't it obvious? "Because then they die!"

"They die anyway," he said matter-of-factly.

"But later!"

He smiled. "So it would be acceptable if the fat guy on the bridge was very old?"

 _But... no!_

"No, it... it..."

He had won, yet again. "You assign value to a living being, but you cannot even tell me why you do that. Come back when you have a better response," came his mocking answer.

Meryl left after feeding Knives who was now able to hold a piece of bread, but not quite get it into his mouth.

* * *

The next day, she proudly walked towards him, carrying a plate full of vegetables.

"Killing is wrong because it causes others to suffer."

He smirked. Not a good sign. Did she walk herself into a corner?

"Ah, now we are getting somewhere," he said. "So suffering is bad, right?"

"Yes."

"So if someone is suffering, helping him is good."

"Yes."

"Someone being in a neutral state is better than someone suffering."

"Yes."

"Killing someone to stop his suffering is good."

"No!" _Damn, he got me again._

"Why not?"

"Because there are other ways to help and then he can live on and be happy!"

"So being happy is better than being in a neutral state?"

"Yes."

"I agree. However, humanity is in a state far worse than neutrality right now. Therefore, putting an end to it would improve everything a lot."

 _Worse than neutrality?_

"Why would you think that?"

She said that instead of thinking what she would have a few days ago: _You are crazy, that's why._

"Because while I can imagine it still getting worse, I can at the same time imagine a world that is substantially better. The current state is far below the average. It is beyond repair. It must be destroyed and replaced. To fix it as it is now, it would take someone with mind control powers, because humans cannot be reasoned with."

"Yes they can!"

"Can one reason with you?"

"Yes of course."

"But you still had nonsensical ideas after a day of thinking about the train problem and only let go of them because you wanted to win the argument. Now imagine everyone being like you, without a reason that is pushing you towards rationality."

* * *

Meryl was angry. She was angry that she felt that Knives was wrong, but couldn't find a reason. She grumbled over it and waited until it was her turn again. Of course, when she most wanted to talk to the guy, luck had to evade her. It had already been 2 days and she was growing frustrated, but there was no way on Gunsmoke she would volunteer herself out of the blue. Her companions would get the wrong idea.

Finally, when her turn came, she directly approached Knives, who could now sit without his face showing that he was in pain, and asked him for the solution.

"What do you mean, _solution_?" He sounded puzzled.

"What am I overlooking? I know it is wrong to kill, but I don't find the answer why. No matter what I think of, I always find something you would say to turn it around."

"You are evolving. You are seeing the errors. Now you must leave them behind."

"Once I do that, my logical choice would be to make sure you can never harm anyone again."

"That is one possibility."

"You cannot want that," she stated firmly.

"Can't I?"

"You don't want to die."

"Then I couldn't cleanse the world of humanity, correct. But I have another goal."

"One that you can achieve while being dead?"

"Yes."

She stared at him. Her grey eyes met his blue ones and she looked at him, really looked for the first time. He looked tired, in pain and was trying to hide it. Arrogant and stubborn, definitely. But not suicidal. Yet, all the previous conversations were hinting towards that. He asked her to kill him. Then even gave her a reason to do so and tried to convince her it was actually an act of kindness.

A simple idea. That was all it took to delude oneself into thinking that an action was the correct one. Everything was a matter of argumentation and the borders of morality could easily be erased and redrawn. The only reason she came so far into the conversation was because she stuck to a sense of morality rather than an argument per se. Every time she tried to argue, she lost. But the guy himself knew what was right and wrong, now she was certain of that. Maybe he did feel guilty over his actions somewhere in that frozen heart of his...

But enough to wish death upon himself?

Definitely not. Something was fishy.

"Was your food bad?"

"If I can turn you into a murderer who doesn't even feel guilty about it, it might convince Vash that I was right all along."

"Not if I poison you and blame an infection."

"I didn't say the method would be risk free."

"True. But why are you telling me this?"

He didn't answer.

She wondered if he realized that she couldn't actually bring herself to kill him. Why else would he give this little 'confession'? Or was he playing some reverse psychology game?

The two didn't speak for a moment.

"I think I can eat by myself already, thank you for your _efforts_."

Despite her feeling that she was being dismissed, she stayed and watched him eat. It was obviously painful for Knives, but he managed to direct his hand towards his mouth.

After he was done, she started the inspection of his wounds out of habit.

"Tell me, Knives," she asked while changing his bandages, "can someone reason with you?"

He gave a derisive snort. "Who is that someone? My idiotic brother or the humans who are barely able to reason? _You_ , maybe?"

"You are rational, right? And I have some rationality left as you pointed out."

He looked at her for a moment, silently considering her unvoiced request. "We'll see," was his only answer.

She was satisfied with that reply. Her job was done. She took out the used dishes and headed towards the door. "I will probably be back tomorrow, as I know my luck."

* * *

The next morning, when she entered Knives' room, the door slammed into something soft.

Curiously, she looked down. What she saw froze her in place. She was standing in a puddle of blood. Her eyes opened wide and quickly found the source of it.

Knives' body was lying on the ground. A knife was sticking out of his back, close to his heart.

Meryl's vision shook for a moment as she bent down, not caring about the blood, and laid a hand on him. He was cold. Too cold to be alive. She pinched herself, then screamed. This wasn't possible! What happened? Vash wasn't here. He was working. He wouldn't come and help. What about Milly? She must be here. She could...

She could... Milly... Oh no!

In Meryl's head, a scenario formed out of the pieces. She turned around and went to Milly's room, knocked against the door, fast and hard. Milly didn't answer but opened the door directly.

"What did you do?" Meryl asked in a chocked voice.

Milly's eyes teared up. "Meryl... I- I'm so sorry..."

* * *

 **A/N** : **If you want to read a version where the** **last scene didn't happen, proceed to chapter 2.**

(*) In case some of you aren't familiar with the train question: en dot wikipedia dot org /wiki/Trolley_problem


	2. Chapter 2

**_Morality in Question_**

 ** _Story by the HamsterofDeath_**

 ** _Chapter 2_**

* * *

 _A/N: Hey guys. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews on the first chapter. Many of you have regretted the very abrupt ending, so here in an alternate version where the **last scene never happened**. Overall, expect 2 or 3 more chapters._

 _Critiques are very welcome._

 _Enjoy :)_

* * *

Meryl drew the short straw, _again,_ as if her own body wasn't short enough already.

While she dutifully prepared Knives' breakfast, she started to think about her current situation. She had asked him if he could be reasoned with. It had felt like the right thing to say at that time, but she realized a bit later that she had no idea how to convince him. It was painfully obvious that Knives was an intellectually superior being, if nothing else. He outsmarted her and would probably forever have the upper hand in any argument. But talking to him made her realize something else. Vash, the goofy, silly perverted idiot was also supposed to be very smart, even though he went out of his way to hide everything about himself for the sole sake of mingling with humans.

The only person who stood a chance at making Knives see reason was Vash. So she tried to get him to help the day before.

 _"Vash! Why don't you go and talk to your brother? You brought him here, but you're not even trying to change his mind!"_

 _The humanoid typhoon sighed. "There is no need for me to do that. The two of us have been having this conversation for over a hundred years. There is nothing I can say that hasn't been said before."_

 _"But..."_

 _"Meryl, you shouldn't be talking to him, he will just try to confuse you."_

That last statement made her pause and rethink everything.

Vash was right.

She shouldn't have listened to Knives in the first place. He had started to play games with her. Mind games. He asked weird questions, probably to display dominance even in his pitiful state. He challenged her, and she just hated him for asking questions that she couldn't answer properly.

He seemed to have a plan, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find out what it was.

* * *

She mentally prepared to face the bedridden plant. This time, she wouldn't let her guard down.

She entered his room, holding the tray of food and found him sitting on his bed, staring out the window. He looked completely engrossed in his contemplation. As she approached and settled on the chair next to his bed, she wondered what he could find so fascinating about the endless sand and glaring suns.

"Do you want to know how I see the world?"

"Will you shut up if I am not interested after hearing it?"

He turned his head towards her, and his piercing blue eyes locked on her.

"Of course."

"Fine, tell me how you see the world."

And so, he began his hypnotizing explanation.

"No matter where I look, I see patterns. The world is made out of interconnected patterns emerging from basic rules. I can understand what they lead to. Did you ever look at ants working? None of them knows what it is doing. They follow a few simple rules, and yet, they create a balanced self-sustaining system. I see that everywhere. Simple rules, complex results. And I find no mistake in the basics. The universe is perfect. No engineer could create something like this; not without taking millions of tries. At the very core, there is an elegance embedded in that system that is ignored by almost every single human. Ants have an excuse, they cannot understand it. Humans do not have an excuse: they could understand, but they want to be blind. And if you ask me, that is a crime."

He gave her dozens of examples. The golden ratio, Pi, the similarities between solar systems and atoms, the event horizon of black holes and the event horizon of the observable universe. He told her about how her body was made out of tiny little ants called cells that had each no idea what they were doing, and yet worked together to create the being that was her.

She listened, mesmerized. She had never imagined that the dead wastelands, the harsh suns, and even the corpses told any story apart from a violent one. And yet, he was describing such incredible beauty to her.

The world, seen from his eyes, was unexpectedly appealing. She wanted to know more.

Over the next days, Knives' behavior changed. He stopped being frustrated. He gradually became friendlier towards her. His questions, that started as a way to show off his superiority, changed to explanations.

She found herself waiting expectantly for the next chance to talk to him. After four days, Meryl skipped the rigged straw game and directly went to Knives for all his meals.

At some point, she even forgot the food and realized she just came for the entertainment.

That's when realization hit her.

Her hate was gone, it was as if she had forgotten what he did. Who he was.

And it frightened her.

What was he doing to her? Did he brainwash her?

She became extremely angry at herself and ashamed of the fact that she fell into his trap yet again.

She couldn't face Knives anymore, and so, she angrily declared to her stupefied companions that from now on, they were on their own!

* * *

Two days later, Meryl felt bad for exposing poor Milly to this manipulative monster! What would he do to her? The same thing? What if Milly wasn't up to defend herself against him? What if he tried to trick her too?

She needed to take matters into her own hands again, she was the only one who could deal with him. But first, she needed to check something.

"Milly, did Knives ask you any weird questions?"

The big girl gave her a perplexed look. "No. We just played chess a few times and talked a bit about how to best cook soup, and he gave me some amazing tips!"

 _Weird._

"Let me take over again on the next meal. I can't have you do all the work."

"Of course. You probably missed your friendly chit chat."

"W-What?! No! Where do you even get these crazy ideas from, Milly?!"

After Meryl had managed to regain her composure, she decided she wouldn't lose it again.

* * *

"Knives. I know you're planning something." She walked into his room with a plate of soup as an alibi.

"Indeed I am." He smiled. That smile looked so 'all knowing' and condescending that she had to fight the urge to slap it off his perfect face.

"Meryl Stryfe, you must admit, you enjoyed it once you stopped thinking about my past, did you not?"

She almost dropped the plate.

 _The nerve of this guy!_ Even if it was true, she would rather die than admit it. Instead she kept her mouth tightly shut and waited for him to continue.

"So, what if I never did any of that?"

"What?!"

Surely, he wouldn't try to play innocent now!

"Milly's moral concept is oversimplified. She wouldn't understand. But you are different. I tested you. You will help me."

 _Help you?! Not in a million years._

"There is a way to correct the mistake I made. There is a way to undo the damage. Even turn it into something good. At least, there could be, if I had your assistance."

She frowned. How could that possibly be true?

"But first, I will need to get back into shape. The way I am now, I can do nothing. So please, keep taking care of me."

He could have asked that of Milly. Why did he ask her instead?

"Tell me more." Sheer curiosity made these words escape her lips.

She hated the fact that she was giving in again. _Does he have some sick psycho-power?_

"We are going to uplift humanity. We will erase its flaws. We will turn it into something better."

 _He just doesn't know when to give up, does he? Did he go even more insane than he already was?_

"Uplift?" she said in a bored tone.

"Yes! That is what must be done! Every species that evolves far enough will eventually reach a point where its potential will allow it to become destructive. Imagine a group of babies, and a few of them start to learn how to wield weapons. If even one of them has a mindset not capable of understanding its power, it will cause massacre. That is what happened. Humanity gained knowledge, but not wisdom. They are infants with guns. They shot into all directions, being unaware of the consequences. They destroyed their own home planet."

"And your great plan _is_?"

She crossed her arms, careful not to spill the plate's content, and mentally prepared for the weird evil genius nonsense that was to come.

"I tried to cleanse the world of humanity in its current state. And I was right to want that."

She sighed. _He went insane again. I have to poison him or something._

"Humanity as it is now is beyond repair. It is on a self enforcing path to its own end. A downward spiral. I saw that, and I tried to remove all that which is bad. I failed, and lying here forced me to rethink my view."

 _So, are you finally going to spill it?_

"Just say it already. You can skip the theater part."

Knives sent her an annoyed look before resuming. "I considered other possibilities. I analyzed the history. Everything I remember. And then I saw the solution. A way out. A perfect, clean move I could make that would change everything." An evil smile appeared on his face.

Meryl was about to lose her patience. "What are you going to do? Tell me or your next meal is air."

"First, get better."

"Do you prefer air soup or air bread?"

"We will have to find, or build, a spaceship."

"Oh, and then?"

 _Wait. What?_

"A spaceship?!"

"Yes. When I sent the command to crash all the ships, a hundred spaceships didn't comply and there was at least one that ignored the order completely. It should still be somewhere in space. We need to go there."

"Oh that's awesome! My patience just hit its limit."

Meryl turned around and walked away. No matter what Knives had to say, he should have just said it. She wouldn't allow him to play games with her. Not _again_. On her way out, she bumped into Milly.

"I don't want to see this guy again! ... for the next few days, at least," she mumbled the last part.

"But his idea seemed really nice to me."

Meryl gaped. _He told her! He told her everything and is playing games with me!_

Meryl's skin wasn't think enough to hide her change in blood pressure.

"Would you... be so kind and tell me what his idea is?"

Her hands were trembling, and she almost broke the plate.

 _Oh. I am still carrying it. Serves him right! That jerk can starve for all I care!_

"He wants to go to a space ship that is somewhere in the solar system and use its quantum entanglement device to send a message back in time to his younger self, telling him what to do. He wants to teach humanity how to behave one by one, create a more advanced society and then gradually wake up humans and integrate them into his Utopia. He wants to create a new civilization that is better than what is on this planet."

"He told me you wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I must have misunderstood him. When I told him his idea is evil he sent me away."

 _Evil? I mean, yes of course, he must be plotting something, but that didn't sound evil at all._

"Why did you say it's evil?"

"Meryl?" Milly waved her hand in front of Meryl's face. "It's obvious! If he goes back in time, everybody who lives now will die!"

 _Is that what he meant? Milly would consider time travel as killing everyone who is alive now. Knives would only see the numbers._

"I see... yes..." She turned away, needing to think about what she heard.

* * *

The next chance she got to see Vash was the day after. He came back from some 'important mission', carrying a strange cactus like plant that Meryl had never seen before. She was told to take care of it, and that it was super important to keep this plant's soil wet all the time. He really took her for his servant, didn't he?

But she couldn't say no. Not when he pulled his best puppy eyes on her. She now officially hated both brothers.

After Vash rummaged through their kitchen drawers and stuffed his face with donuts, he tried to disappear before the supposedly obligatory Who-feeds-the-bad-guy lottery. But Meryl didn't let him.

"Not so fast, Mister! First, tell me everything you know about quantum time travel."

Vash adjusted his glasses, as if they were connected to his ears and malfunctioning.

"So he finally told you..."

 _I have been the last! The **last**! He told everyone else. _ "I will kill him!" she seethed.

Vash's expression turned into shock. "No, you can't! He's my brother! I know he did some terrible things but..."

 _Did I just say that out loud?_ "Ugh, sorry, I didn't mean it. I just…," she rubbed her temples. "I'm not going to hurt him." _Yet_. "So, what is his genius plan?"

"He didn't tell you?"

Meryl gave Vash a short summary, leaving out all embarrassing parts. He saw no choice but to explain it all.

"Well, I don't really know. Back in the ships when we were children, Knives told me once about an experiment that was being conducted. He found a document or overheard something, I don't remember it well. We both ignored it afterwards."

"What was it about?"

"Well... I don't know. You have to ask Knives."

"Why can't _you_ tell me? He told you his plan, didn't he?"

"He told me he wanted to send a message to the past and I refused. I don't know any details."

 _Great. I will lose all my dignity._

* * *

After staring at the door leading to Knives' room for over fifteen minutes and turning multiple shades of red, Meryl finally gathered her courage, opened the door, lost all her dignity and asked the question. "What is quantum time travel?"

Her sudden entrance obviously startled Knives. But his look of surprise got quickly replaced with a barely hidden smirk.

"So, you came back. Sit down, Meryl Stryfe, and listen to the miracles of science."

She sat down, not saying anything.

"Do you know what interaction means on an atomic or subatomic level?"

 _Yes, keep mocking me._

"No, I don't, great master, please tell me so I can bath in the glory of your knowledge," she said that in the most sarcastic voice she could produce.

His smirk widened. "Interaction means, that two particles or fields are overlapping each other in time and space. Usually, for any interaction, time is a barrier, and space is a barrier. Me talking to you is me creating molecular movements in the air. One molecule moves against the next, which forms a complex wave, which triggers a reaction inside your ear. That in turn is translated into a stream of information that your brain picks apart. It is a chain of interactions. It starts in my brain, and ends in yours."

 _Can you repeat that one more time?_

"Everybody knows that. Tell me something new."

He looked amused by her reaction. "Then there is quantum entanglement. The smaller a particle, the easier it is to achieve. If you have two entangled particles, it means that if you interact with one, you automatically interact with the other as well. The distance in space is irrelevant."

 _I need to read a book about that once I am out of here..._

"To the scientifically unversed, this is magic. They don't understand it and try to explain their superstitions with it. Ghosts are 'quantum beings' and other nonsense."

Meryl tried to look as if she understood everything.

"Yes."

"I am surprised you can still follow me. So, what the scientists of the fleet were doing was to solve the time-distance problem as well. What do you know about worm holes?"

 _Wormholes? Talk about a sudden topic switch._

"They... can be used to travel from one place to another? Though not by humans as far as I know."

"Impressive!"

 _Why does he look so amazed. Every child knows that._

"So, as you probably know as well, if you set up a worm hole, it will connect to that point in space and time. You set up an anchor, so to speak."

 _He wasn't talking about sandworms. Keep your face as it is. He must not notice._

"Interesting."

"So, what would happen if you entangled a particle before you created a worm hole, send it through it, and receive it on the other side?"

"Interesting."

"Indeed! You could change it on one side, and on the other, it would react. I didn't work out the exact details, but if we had such an entangled particle, we would be able to send messages to the past. The moment we send a message that changes the past, everything should change accordingly, meaning the current timeline never happened."

"Are you hungry?"

"... Yes."

 _I think it is time to switch the topic before he notices._

"I have a question. Why did you tell me last?"

"Because I knew my chances to convince you would be the highest. I used Milly for practice and Vash to see if he remembered anything useful. I optimized my strategy to get you."

"So... you never expected them to agree?"

"Not really. I would have been surprised. I was always after you. If you agree to help me, Vash will not object. Milly will play along."

 _I feel a bit flattered._

"So I can ruin your plan by saying no." She smiled.

"But you won't." He returned her smile.

"How do you know?"

 _You don't really know that, do you?_

"You have morals, like I do. If you were given the chance to rid the world of all its evil, you would do it. You would feel obligated to do it. But unlike Vash and Milly, your morals are not weird and distorted. Just like you calculate the value of damage that is done, you can compare the moral value of two options."

 _Did he just call me a psychopath and disguised it as praise?_

"Yes, I can calculate the value of damage."

 _Did I just accept the praise part?_

"I knew we would get along. Once I can walk, we will go to the ship and get it running again."

"Wait, wait, wait. I haven't agreed yet."

"But you will. You are processing what I told you, and in the end you will agree. There is no other way. Your moral concepts do not allow another result. Think about it as long as you want, the result is predetermined. You can only refuse if your character changes. But this cannot happen, not just like that. Think about it. You will save millions. Humanity will still colonize this planet, but they will terra-form it. They will have a government that actually understands what it is doing."

 _Said like that, it really sounds good._

"Ok, what is your evil plan? You are plotting something, aren't you?"

"Of course. I will elegantly dispose of humanity as it is now, without hurting even a single one of them."

 _I need to say no. I know I have to. But I cannot refuse something so promising without a good reason. I need to find a flaw._

"I... will give you my answer tomorrow."

"Do it whenever you wish, I already know what is going to happen."

* * *

I would like to thank **Athelynge** for drawing some great fanart for this story (cover image and more). You can find her work on DeviantArt.


	3. Chapter 3

**Morality in Question Chapter 3**

 **Story by: The HamsterofDeath**

* * *

What should she do?

The ceiling Meryl was staring at did not give her an answer. She turned in her bed and thought again. What would happen if she refused to go along with his plan? Wouldn't that simply send them all back to square one? He would remain their prisoner and they would all spend their lives making sure he doesn't escape or go on a rampage. Milly and her would grow old and die before the plant got any wrinkle. That would be insanity. She refused!

Of course, there was always the option of killing him. But she couldn't do that. Not anymore. She was stuck.

Should she agree?

If she went along with his plan, everybody would _disappear,_ her included _._ Generations of humans would have simply never existed. But in exchange, the great fall would be avoided! A terra-formed planet, a responsible government, no over-used plants, wasn't that good? Why did Vash refuse Knives' plan? What was the catch?

She didn't know.

She continued to think about the problem until she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Meryl stepped into Knives' room, who surprisingly could already sit without any sign of pain.

"I hate you."

"Perfect. Would you be so kind and get a map? We will have to check a few wrecks. If we are just a bit lucky, we can collect enough spare parts to get a small shuttle flying."

"Here." She already had one and handed it over to him.

Knives accepted the gift.

Meryl hoped that she made the right decision. She was betting everything on him having changed his mind about her species, or at least starting to question his views. If everybody refused to listen to a perfectly valid plan, then he might revert to his old self and she couldn't have that. She wanted to prove to him that she, a human, could be logical, efficient and reasonable. If the plan worked, then humanity and plants alike would have a fresh start, and if it failed, Knives would still be saved from his preconceptions. He had been treating her nicely so far, having conversations with her as an equal and not an inferior being.

She watched as Knives unfolded the map and started analyzing it. A moment later, he looked at her and smiled.

"You see, Meryl, right now, you are like a pet to me. Like a loyal dog. If you feed a dog and give it commands, you will become its master. In your case, I needed to give you knowledge and wisdom."

Meryl gaped at him. _Is is too late to kill him now?_ "Once I find a flaw in what you told me, I will abandon you!"

"I wouldn't accept you if you would follow an idiot. I have standards."

"Ok." Meryl took a deep breath and tried to forget who she was talking to. _Insufferable jerk._

"Let's assume we find enough spare parts. Will that even be enough? The hulls are all heavily damaged, without exception."

"I know how difficult it must look to you, but it actually is not. We basically only need three things. The first is the engine. There are many lying around. I doubt we will find one that is intact, but the damage shouldn't be critical. If a human can survive, so can an engine that is much harder. Parts might get loose, but I can stitch them back together; I know how they work. The second part is the navigation system. We will skip that. Manual controls are enough; we do not need high precision, we just need to get into space, approach another ship, then go outside and board the ship. I still know the door codes, so that isn't a problem."

 _And then we breathe the vacuum. Easy._

"Of course we will need a space suit, but that is not an issue. The ships will have some, and even if not, we just need something that can resist an atmospheric pressure of, well, one atmosphere and a layer on top that shields us from radiation."

"Isn't it cold in space?"

Knives sighed.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"If I have to... if you touch cold water, it will absorb your heat. That is how you get cold. If there is no water, you touch air, which absorbs less heat because it is less dense. Now if you take away the air..."

 _So the heat is stuck?_

"Are you telling me that things do not instantly freeze in space?"

"Exactly. All we need to protect our bodies from is radiation and our own pressure."

"Ok. But how are you going to build the hull?"

"Can you imagine building a submarine?"

"Given the manpower we have, I would use a balloon and put a heavy stone into it, then close it."

"It's no different from a spaceship, apart from the engine."

 _I can't really imagine going into space in a huge balloon with an engine attached to it._

"You're right, we do not have the resources to build a real, fully functional spaceship. But that isn't what is necessary. Even a simple suit with a jet-pack made out of an old spaceship engine would be fine."

 _Now this sounds much more realistic._

* * *

 _ **Three weeks later.**_

* * *

"You did an excellent job convincing the others."

They were both in a spaceship wreck. Knives had opened the control panel and bent over to have a look inside. Soon, part of his body disappeared into the machinery.

"I didn't imagine it being so easy. You were right, they listen to me for no reason."

"This, my dear, is called understanding the rules of the game. By taking into consideration everything, you can predict the outcome given a certain input."

"How come you and Vash don't agree? I mean, you should be able to understand each other."

"You are asking good questions today. We can understand each other, but we disagree. We chose different goals. It's like playing chess but one player tries to get the king while the other only cares about getting all his pieces into a nice looking pattern."

"Vash is the one trying to get his pieces into a heart?"

"You could say that. Pass me the memory module."

Meryl handed a small flat circuit board over to Knives who plugged it into a broken computer.

"Do you know how these things work?"

"With electricity?"

"So you don't. We are lucky this cpu here is built like it is. Space is full of gamma rays. Each gamma ray that hits the cpu can mess up its calculations."

"Like someone shouting numbers at you while you count?"

"I suppose from your nonscientific viewpoint, that is an acceptable metaphor."

His upper body came back out of the console he just fixed. Some lights lit up, and a beep confirmed that the console was indeed... capable of beeping.

"You need special shielding. You need error checking built into the cpu in case a stray ray makes it through the shield. Strong magnetic fields can redirect radiation, but we don't have the means to generate one that would reach far enough."

Meryl looked up. The ship in which they were had a gaping hole at its ceiling.

"Why isn't the radiation reaching us?"

Knives turned his head to his pet.

"Excellent question. It's because of this planet's magnetic field. It reaches about 30.000 km into space and redirects most of the radiation. This is why you all didn't die of cancer yet. And the atmosphere is the reason you don't get an instant sunburn after a few seconds."

"A few seconds?"

"We have two suns. Each sun emits a large amount of ultraviolet light. If enough hits your skin, you get a sunburn."

"This radiation, how do we protect ourselves when we go outside?"

"Anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything will do, as long as it is dense enough. Ideally we'd use a suit made out of ultra-dense lead – then a few micrometers thick layer would be enough. Like the suit that I used to wear."

"You said it takes a few meters to be sure."

"That was normal lead. It depends on how the atoms are arranged, remember?"

"Right. Atoms."

Knives pressed some buttons on the console, being satisfied afterwards.

"It's working?"

"The basic operating system is built into the cpu itself and is almost intact. We are lucky. Only non-critical parts are damaged. It was a good idea to include up to 17 copies of the most important data."

"Why so many?"

"So that even if all of them are damaged, you can still reconstruct the complete program."

"Ok."

She stared.

"Wait. If every single program is damaged, how do you..."

He obviously was prepared for this exact question. "Because if they are damaged at different parts, I can combine the parts of each copy that are not damaged. Just like your cells have a spare copy of dna to replace broken parts."

"They really wanted to make sure this works..."

"They had to. If it fails, you die. Just like you die when your dna gets damaged and you get cancer."

Meryl said nothing. But Knives expected a reply which meant that she missed something. Opening her mouth right now would only disappoint him as she had no idea about what to say. It was embarrassing when she failed to meet his high expectations.

Knives shook his head slightly. "And we can know which part of two has been damaged by using a check-sum."

"Uh.. ok."

"Anyway, let's eat," he said, finally taking pity on her.

They sat at a table outside, just the two of them under the perfect blue sky, and started eating their delicious soup. They had spent quite a lot of time together and Meryl had to admit that she had never had as many meaningful conversations with anybody else in her entire life. His company was strangely addictive. The guy was a living, walking, context sensitive encyclopedia, albeit a very condescending one.

"What do you think is the mental difference between you and me, dear Meryl? What is it that makes me superior? My knowledge about the world, about science, physics, biology? Raw processing speed? Intelligence?"

"I suppose it would be intelligence."

"What is intelligence?"

"The ability to solve problems?"

"So intelligence is the collection of problems you can solve?"

"Yes?"

"So the more people you have, the more intelligent the group becomes? Have you ever been in a so called meeting?"

"So I am wrong?"

"Let's go back. How complex, do you think, is the processing of optical or auditory input?"

"Tell me."

"Very. The processing of visual input is one of the most complex tasks your brain is capable of. This is no different for me. The difference between you and me is actually infinitely small compared to what is required just for us to talk, hear and see."

"I am almost as smart as you?"

"In a sense, you are. In your case, to use a metaphor, the glass is full. In my case, a few more drops were enough to surpass the border. I am on a different level because I have reached the critical mass. To be more precise, I know how to be intelligent, while you don't. You use the tools your brain gives you, but you do not organize your thoughts. You are never thinking on a higher level, you just go left and right instead of changing the depth. I have the key, you don't. Intelligence doesn't happen, you have to embrace it. Of course, there is also a maximum limit that everybody has. There is a maximum that you can never surpass. But if I were to limit myself to the strategies you use, I would only be a shadow of myself. Then, the only difference to you would be the speed, not the intelligence."

"Are you saying that I am not using my full potential?"

"Exactly. Almost no one even tries. They don't really think, they just live from one day to the next. I tried to uplift some humans, but the results were disappointing. However, there are a few exceptions. Out of the entire population, there should be around 150 that are like me. And out of the entire population, there is a large chunk that is more stupid than necessary. I want to kill them just for that."

"Didn't you say you would stop being evil?"

"But it is more efficient and morally better to change their history..."

"Now that sounds a lot better to me."

* * *

It took a week to fill in the holes of the program. The secondary programs turned out to be quite important and Knives had to master what he called a "programming language."

Meryl was assisting by pressing some buttons, but even if Knives told her she was making things a bit easier, she felt useless and out of place.

"Milly should be back soon with the tools."

She looked at her watch. Knives heard her, but was mumbling something about a stack overflow error.

"Still, why does Vash go along with this? I mean, Milly said she just decided to trust my decision because she isn't the brightest. But Vash?"

"Easy," Knives spoke with a screwdriver in his mouth, which Meryl found highly distracting. "He believes you will change your mind at the last moment because you will see my mistake. He also believes that as long as I am working on the plan, I am easy to control."

He changed the screwdrivers.

"Except that there is no mistake."

"And he is controlling you now?"

"Yes. You cannot tell, but he is actively slowing me down by slowing Milly down. He is trying to drag it out, which will give you more time, and prevent me from following a different plan. I will only do so if this one fails. In his little world, the ideal solution is to slow me down forever. In the end, at the last second, he will try to stop me. And I am already preparing for that. This also forces me to slow down. It's part of the game, if you will."

 _So there_ _ **was**_ _something going on._

"In the end, the better planner will succeed. We are done for today. It's getting dark."

"Yes, I am getting hungry. It's really strange that we have a 24 hours day and 14 hours of daylight regularly despite two suns." Meryl wanted to ask a few times how this was possible, but refrained each time.

 _I will figure that out by myself._

They both left the not yet fully functional ship, closed the door, locked it and walked into their temporal home, which was nothing more then a few small tents with a lot of garbage, tools and a bit of food around them.

 _I wonder what his full plan is. He and Vash must have both planned a lot ahead._

Half an hour later, Knives and Meryl ate together.

No sign from Vash. Was there a problem, or was he purposefully delaying it? Even after an hour nobody came. Two hours, nothing. At midnight, Vash opened the tent of Meryl who was caught in a state between dreams and reality.

"Vash? Why did you..."

Then she noticed his facial expression.

"Milly is dead. I failed to protect her."


	4. Chapter 4

**Morality in Question Chapter 04**

 **Story by: The HamsterofDeath**

 **A/N:** It would have been too mean to leave you guys waiting too long after that particular cliffhanger. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please let me know what you think of it (bad or good), and maybe also where you think this is going :D

* * *

"Meryl?" Vash was leaning over her.

"Vash?"

"You collapsed."

"Milly... what happened to her?"

Meryl tried to get up hastily, but her low blood pressure prevented it. Her left hand managed to grab his arm.

"What happened? Tell me."

She stared at him, demanding an answer. At the same time, she summoned a memory. What did Knives say again?

 _Vash is trying to slow us down._

"Tell me!"

She gathered her forces and demanded an answer once again.

Vash told her a very believable story about the two running into bandits. There were 6 of them and of course Vash managed to defend himself. A safe path was open, Milly and him were about to escape, when she suddenly stumbled and fell. Vash was absolutely sure that there was no shot immediately before that, and due to covers, the angle of the sunlight and so on it was impossible to aim at them anyway. Vash went back, tried to carry her but it slowed him down.

He still managed to get away somehow, but when he finally had the time to check what was up with Milly, her pulse was gone. She had no bullet wounds. And on top of that, they lost most of what they were supposed to collect.

 _This is too suspicious._

Of course Vash's story was impossible to disprove.

"Where is... her body?"

 _Focus. Finish the shuttle. Rewind time. This will have never happened._

Vash gave her a location in the middle of nowhere. A hard to reach place, dangerous, but he promised to get whatever he could back tomorrow. He was exhausted and needed to rest now.

 _This is a trick, right? You told her to go somewhere, and she will come back in a few days. This is just a lie to keep me from being focused._

But then, Meryl realized how out of character this would be. Milly would never agree to play such a prank on her, and Vash wouldn't either. She felt alone. In a single span of 5 minutes, her view of the world became dark. She dug herself back into her cover closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She wanted to get up and confirm everything herself, but she knew it was impossible.

She had to wait at least until morning. But what was she hoping to gain?

Either Vash had become an enemy, or Milly was dead, or both.

In any case, she had to finish the shuttle. She would work twice as hard from now on. It would distract her. And when she was done, her pain would be gone. Everything would be good.

But Vash was a problem. She could no longer trust him. His story was too strange. He could cause more problems.

It didn't take long before Meryl dozed off again, as if everything had just been part of a dream.

When she woke up again, the warm sunlight pulled her out of a fuzzy world in which she could still talk to Milly. A dying Milly, telling her to help.

 _"He poisoned me!"_ she said just before Meryl woke up.

When she had regained her bearings, she felt something moist slide down her cheeks and land on her lap. She brought a hand to her face and realized that she had been crying. She quickly wiped all evidence away and got out of her tent.

Knives was already waiting. His expression was almost as usual, but Meryl believed to see a bit of pity in it. His eyes, usually so cold and steely, displayed a faint gentleness when they landed on her.

"Let's go and get the lost parts. You should know it is the best thing to do."

Meryl agreed. Her eyes felt strange and a bit swollen, she had to force them open.

"Will Vash come with us?"

"Yes. I cannot let him alone here. So I take you with me. To protect you, he will come with us. We can carry more together, we're faster, and it is safer."

* * *

Meryl's legs walked faster than usual. She didn't feel any exhaustion or pain. Her body was on fight or flight mode. Four hours went by during which she didn't speak a word. The next day her legs would probably hurt, but she didn't care.

"It is about half an hour from here, in that direction." Vash pointed at a few mountains. "There is a building between them. We were supposed to get the last piece there, but nobody showed up. Instead, there were bandits. I think they might be gone already, with the spare parts."

"It doesn't matter. We will hunt them."

The words escaped Meryl's mouth. Her body was acting by itself.

In her mind, she was elsewhere.

 _"What you are now experiencing is called cognitive dissonance. You are experiencing contradictory emotions."_

Knives told her a few times that during his experiments to 'uplift humans', the most successful method to open someone's mind was to make him schizophrenic and then get the team to work together. It was a technique to get the brain out of a static viewpoint by pretending to have different views, different priorities. Meryl tried it a few times, and it didn't seem to work for her. Until she imagined Knives himself being inside her head. He would say things, point out ideas that she herself wouldn't have had. It was bizarre to talk to an imaginary friend, even more so since that imaginary friend came up with an opinion of his own and sometimes outsmarted her. But at least, she could trust him completely.

 _"Who do you think did it? The bandits? Vash? Knives? Who gains the most from this?"_

 _"Vash would never do this!"_

 _"So is it Knives?"_

 _"Why would he slow himself down?"_

 _"So it was Bandits?"_

 _"Bandits beating Vash in a fight? Unlikely."_

 _"You have to decide, my dear."_

About 29 minutes later, they all reached a shabby building. It was empty, at least it seemed that way. No Milly, no dead Milly, no Bandits. There were no traces of blood anywhere. Meryl checked the surroundings. Everything Vash said could be true.

 _"Oh, so the bandits took care of the body. Why?"_

 _"You have a point. What do you think, by the way?"_

 _"I have no opinion for now. We need more information. For example, ask Vash where exactly Milly was. Then check for traces in the dust."_

There was a trace in the dust on the ground. It looked like someone walked towards a point, then collapsed. Then, the body was dragged somewhere. Meryl followed it, while Knives was inspecting the surroundings.

 _"He is looking for the parts I think. You can keep looking for Milly. You are a good team."_

 _"Thank you."_

Vash was more or less passively standing around, not trying to stop them, but also not helping.

 _"Isn't it suspicious? He looks to me as if he is planning his next excuse."_

 _"Thank you, but for now, help me look."_

The trace stopped outside of the building. Did the wind blow sand over the trace? It gradually became thinner, so it was possible. Vash was looking outside of a window, checking what both Knives and Meryl were doing.

 _"Stomp on the ground."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Stomp on the ground. Check every few meters."_

Meryl looked a bit stupid, but she didn't care. After a few minutes, she heard a very unexpected noise.

* * *

In the meantime, the real Knives put his fingers into the sand. He dug through it for a minute, until he found a screw. It could have been any screw, but it wasn't. He recognized the shape. It belonged to one of the spare parts, a simple transformator.

He kept looking and found more small pieces in the sand. Meryl knew what was going on in his head. He was reverse engineering hundred of possibilities. Everything he could imagine that could have possibly happened. To him, this was a puzzle.

Meryl also started to dig. What she found was nothing less than a trap door. Of course, it was locked. But it didn't withstand a shot from Knives' gun. Vash wouldn't allow the gun anywhere near his brother, but even he had to agree that leaving him completely helpless on such a dangerous trip was a stupid idea. So in the end, it was decided that she would carry the gun and only give it to Knives if the situation became hopeless. The AGL arms .45 Long Colt was much more efficient than her derringers. They felt like toys in comparison. She hadn't been surprised to hear that Knives built the gun from scratch.

The trap door opened, a ladder appeared, and Meryl almost jumped into the hole. To her surprise, it wasn't dark. This was some kind of underground hideout, and she heard noises. Laughter. And praise of cooking skills.

 _"Looks like someone is alive and well,"_ said Mental Knives. Meryl lost her composure and barged right into a room with at least two bandits in each corner.

What she saw, was very, very confusing. The bandits were taking care of a person who looked exactly like Milly. She was lying in a bed, being fed what smelled like the soup she used to make.

Knives jumped down behind Meryl. "Wait! You cannot just..." He stopped when he saw the scene, too. Then he shouted "Vash! Explanation!"

No answer came back.

Meryl shouted "Milly! Explanation!", any Milly was happy to give a short summary.

"Well, we were carrying these heavy boxes full of spare parts when suddenly, a guy with a mask – that one – asked us what we were carrying. He said it was their territory, and we are not allowed to take anything without his allowance. He pointed a gun at us."

Her tone changed from happy to mysterious.

"And then I became dizzy. I remember Vash pulling me behind a rock and shooting at the poor guy. We started to run, but I couldn't feel my legs anymore. I tried to run anyway, but that is all I remember. I woke up here."

And it turned out she gave the recipe to the bandits' chef to thank them for taking care of her.

Knives had another important question. "Where are the boxes?"

Milly pointed at an overweight guy with a hat.

"That's the boss?"

Milly nodded.

Meryl approached Milly and looked at her more closely. After making sure that she was fine, she finally allowed herself to give her a heartfelt hug. "I am so glad you're alive! But what do you mean, you got dizzy? Just like that?"

"I don't know. It felt like getting up quickly after a hot bath."

"It was hot yesterday, wasn't it? And the box, how heavy was it?"

"You think I over-strained myself?"

Meryl counted. She saw four people and heard another one making sounds. They were at least five. So the excuse of Vash might be valid.

"Can you come with us?"

"I think so. I feel a lot better now."

* * *

Knives was in the middle of negotiations. Apparently, Vash caused some trouble for the bandits which were not really bandits but just merchants living here, using bandit outfits to scare the competition away. It wasn't completely clear if Vash knew about what he was doing and whether or not he was taking spare parts without permission, but Knives assumed he did know very well.

At the end of their discussion, the merchant leader looked very happy. You could see currency symbols floating in his eyes.

 _"What might he have promised him?"_ wondered Meryl. Mental Knives seemed to know.

 _"What do you think?"_

Meryl was puzzled, then she realized that there was one thing that they had and could give away for free. The shuttle, after they were done with their plan. Of course, it would never happen if the plan succeeded, but the merchants didn't know that.

Meryl saw what she believed to be the smile of a victor on Knives' face. Mental Knives commented that he must have gotten more than just spare parts.

 _"Because even if he got them for free, we still lost a day? So what he got now is better than getting the day back?"_

 _"You are learning quickly."_

Knives was done with all negotiations and now being followed by a nerdy looking guy.

"He will help us. We'll be done a lot faster."

Meryl's face showed a smile. Knives saw it, and he understood what it meant. She understood what he did, and he understood what she was thinking. He approached her, leaned and whispered in her ear so as to not be overheard.

"Come visit me at midnight. I want to show you something."

 _"You did it. You passed!"_ Mental Knives was happy. Not as much as her, though.

"I will," responded Meryl proudly, blushing from the unexpected proximity.

Knives, followed by his new assistant, left the underground bunker, carrying the parts they came here to get.

Vash had come inside in the meantime, and he was aware of the situation. Meryl observed him closely. He behaved and moved as usual, but his face gave away some subtle hints of worry. He was brooding over something.

"Vash, what's up with you? Aren't you happy?" Meryl thought it was time to confront him. He was acting out of character, at least he should have helped searching.

"Oh, I am. About Milly, that is."

"But?"

"I don't see how he did it."

She could hear the smirk on Mental Knives' imaginary lips when he spoke in her inner ear. _"He suspects Knives planned this. He cannot figure out how that was possible, and now fears being completely outmatched. But don't tell him you know that. In fact, better play stupid."_

"Who did what?"

"My brother."

Vash spaced out.

"Vash?"

"Sorry. I think I should tell you what is really going on. Let's go outside."

Meryl followed.

After being outside of hearing range, Vash began to spill the beans.

"When Milly collapsed, I had no idea what was going on. My first idea was that Knives somehow poisoned her. It was possible. If she was dead, you might have focused completely on building the shuttle and reversing time. It would have given you a motivation. You would not consider it being a mistake at all. Just to get rid of your grief, you would have done whatever Knives wanted. It fits perfectly. It was the best option he had."

"But he couldn't have known about the merchants."

"He spent all his time in the shuttle. Him knowing the merchants was a possibility, but did it seem to you like they recognized him?"

Meryl summoned their faces. "No, they met him for the first time. Maybe he knew about them, without knowing them personally?"

"No. For this to be a plan, he would have had to know where we were getting the parts, make sure the timing of the poison was perfect, and instruct the merchants to attack us, but make sure not to injure Milly. He had no way to do any of that. You were with him all the time. He was always focused on his ship, was he not?"

Meryl summoned more memories. "Yes, he was constantly bossing me around or giving me lessons."

Meryl continued the train of thought. "If he was able to communicate despite all that and plan everything that precisely, it would have been easier to just have the merchants deliver the parts and skip the search and rescue mission."

"It's a mystery to me. I can't figure out what happened."

Vash seemed desperate. Meryl almost felt pity, despite understanding the huge difference between them. Back when she only knew that Vash and Knives were much more intelligent than average humans, she imagined them as two people having normal minds, but with the ability to process information faster, do complex calculations and the like. But after Knives introduced her to his way of seeing the world, she knew how wrong she had been.

Knives' mind was completely different from hers, and so, she assumed, the same must have been true for Vash. She only began to grasp the beginnings of really understanding his way of thinking. So Vash, she further assumed, must have had a mind that was equally hard to follow, but at the same time worked differently.

"You are still betting on me changing my mind?" asked Meryl.

"Yes. I am sure Knives is lying. He will go back, but once there, he will know what exactly he needs to do to make humanity go extinct."

He put his hands on her shoulders. His eyes betrayed the extent of his fear as he started pleading. "My brother hasn't changed, Meryl. He hasn't changed at all. You don't really know him, but I do. You have to believe me!"

The last time Meryl and Vash had this discussion, at the very beginning before they agreed on doing it, Meryl asked a few questions that now seemed stupid to her.

"Why don't you just stop him now? You could just destroy whatever ship he finds."

"No, I can't. I need to let him do this. If I don't play along, he will try to escape. He might eventually succeed, attempt to do it all alone, might succeed again, and then I would have no way to stop him. If I am around, see what he is trying to do, maybe I can prevent his plans completely."

Now, it was clear to her what Vash meant. Follow Knives to the still operating spaceship and blow that up. No worm hole, no time travel, no Knives ruling the world. This was his plan. Leave some room for Knives, but observe him closely. Always be one step ahead. As long as Vash managed that, everything was fine.

What happened today was a good reason for Vash to be desperate. He has not been in control. Not at all. He had no idea how Knives could have done it, and it freaked him out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Morality in Question**

 **By: The HamsterofDeath**

 **A/N:** We are almost at the end of our journey; only one chapter left. Thank you so much to all of you who took a bit of their time to leave a little comment or piece of advice. It means a lot to me to know that there are people enjoying this story!

* * *

 **Chapter 05**

* * *

The trip back was a tedious one for Meryl. The events of the day had drained her, her legs felt like two heavy weights that she had to drag, and the conversation she had had with Vash was still replaying in her head. She looked at Knives, who was busy giving a summary to the new recruit. Vash had barely spent any time with his brother ever since he brought him to them -contrary to her-, how could he be so certain that he was still bent on destroying humans? Wasn't he lacking objectivity?

She needed to keep an eye on the twins and find a way to ascertain Knives' motives. She really wanted to believe in him.

Later that day, during a delicious experimental dinner around the campfire, they all listened carefully to Milly's version of the story.

"I don't know what happened to me. I started to feel hot, and I thought it was just the weather, or maybe I was just overdoing it and carried too much at once - but then I got dizzy as well. This never happened before. I thought I would be used as a hostage! But no! I woke up in a warm bed, and a doctor was next to me."

Vash and Knives looked at each other, saying no word, but Meryl could almost hear them fighting against each other mentally.

"He said he cannot tell what was up with me, but whatever it was, it stopped. He said nothing is wrong with me."

 _One of them must have done it. But who? Vash wouldn't do this, would he? And Knives couldn't have planned it the way it happened._

Mental Knives commented on that. _"You are overlooking something. What happened might not have been what either of them planned."_

Milly couldn't answer their questions, but she could certainly overpass their expectations concerning the food quality. And she was as happy-go-lucky as ever. She couldn't see the tension, and if she did, she feigned ignorance pretty well.

Even later that day, almost at midnight, Meryl stared into the sky. Would they really go to space? See those lost ships? Use a hole in space to go back in time, reverse everything?

There were five tents set up right next to the shuttle. The new fifth one belonged to the nerdy guy. He didn't use it yet. He was still in the shuttle, using some sound based device for detecting cracks in the hull and fixing them. Meryl had no idea how exactly it worked, but the basic principle was that cracks resonate sound differently than, well, non cracks.

She couldn't help but wonder what Knives might have had to say.

 _"It's time. Go to him and see what it is."_

Meryl stood up, turned towards Knives' tent, bent and opened it without saying a word. He was faced with his back towards her, looking at some papers.

"Come over here." He moved a bit to the left so that Meryl could fit next to him. It took a bit of squeezing herself against Knives. They were side to side, touching on many places much to her embarassement and she was surprised that Knives didn't seem bothered by it. But then she saw what he was doing. There were papers on the ground, filled with numbers and symbols. A simple candle was allowing them to read.

"What is this?" she asked as if Knives was a magician.

"This is my real plan."

"Your... real plan?"

"My memory isn't fuzzy. But I couldn't reveal that too soon."

He browsed through the pages, looking for ones that had some drawings on them.

"Look at this."

There was a page showing a complicated diagram with some stick figures on it. She couldn't help but smile. So there was something even Knives wasn't good at.

"This one is you." He pointed at a significantly smaller stick figure. There were arrows pointing from bubbles representing events to other bubbles representing other events.

Meryl followed the arrows while Knives was watching her eyes. She slowly deconstructed the maze that Knives had created and laid out.

"You know where it is. You remember the trajectory of the remaining ships. You know which one we need to reach. And we have two weeks to finish the work on the shuttle, or we will have to wait another three years. And," this last part surprised her and she turned her head towards him. "it's a one way trip."

Knives seemed to be a bit impressed. Or at least not the tiniest bit disappointed.

"Exactly. We need to reach the ship. If we fail, we are stranded in space. The shuttle would break apart upon reentry. On top, we will be out of fuel and cannot reach any other ship."

So failure wasn't an option.

Meryl began to understand. Knives never gave away specifics. Had Vash known about the exact problems, he could have easily foiled the plan. In this case, a little delay would have been enough to postpone everything for three years. And during those years, he could have found a way to reach the ship by himself and destroy it. Or just build a big laser and shoot it down. He would have had a big advantage.

"Once up there, how are we going to send the message?" Meryl never asked before. But she knew that there had to be a person on the other side, ready to receive a message. Obviously, Knives must have had a plan for that, too.

"The old fashioned way."

Meryl remembered his lecture about quantum communication. At first, it seemed like magic that one particle could influence another, no matter the distance. Then Knives explained that this effect itself could never be used for communication. He let Meryl figure out why, and after some time, she got it.

She had proudly announced the solution to a Knives who was lying on his back under the console. "It is impossible because once the receiver checks for a message, him checking the message changes the state of the particle. He will not know what the sender sent, because just looking at the particle will change its state."

"Excellent! Even if you and I had an entangled particle each, we would not be able to communicate with it. Imagine it as a 6 sided die that gives you a random number each time you look at it, and mine always shows the value of 7-n, meaning the value is mirrored at 3.5. Even if I can control my number and therefore know which number you will see the next time you check, you will not know if you see the number I sent you, or a random number caused by your check."

"But didn't you say it was possible?"

"It became possible by another discovery," he stopped his fiddling momentarily, propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her, "A physicist managed to keep the entanglement up until after the measurement. So, if you measure your particle twice, mine also changes again."

Meryl had to think hard at that point.

"But how does that help? The recipient still cannot tell if the change was random..."

"I will let you think about that for a while. Please give me one of the memory chips."

Meryl eventually figured it out. Knives praised her as if she was a dog who had just performed a new trick flawlessly. She felt strangely flattered as she was patted on her head.

But now was not the time to think about that.

"The old fashioned way? So, there is someone on the other side actively waiting?"

"Yes. A computer. We can contact the other side, and we can use that to send whatever message we want. A scientist will eventually read it, and everything will change from then on. So, we have exactly one message we can send."

"And you already have an idea what that message should be?"

"Well, almost. I need to consider every possible factor."

 _So there is no way he could just talk to his younger self?_

 _"Why so surprised?"_ asked mental Knives. _"You should have expected that the possibilities are very restricted. This is just an experiment, after all."_

 _Did he really tell the truth?_

 _"I think he did. Given all we know, he only has one try at this, and whatever he does might have huge consequences. Also, he exposed a critical weakness. He shouldn't have done this if he didn't trust you. I dot not see how this could be a ruse."_

Meryl had still had a bit of doubt in her, but now, it was gone. Vash was wrong. Knives really had the intention of changing history in a way that would undo his deeds.

"Meryl?"

"Did I space out?"

"Yes, you did. I was talking to you, but you stopped reacting. Is my plan boring?"

"No, no, it's very interesting."

After a few more explanations, and a few more questions from Meryl, Knives said "I would propose to bring you back to your tent like a gentleman, but it is preferable for you to go alone. Better not arouse suspicion."

Meryl didn't know what to answer. She felt a bit like having escaped from her parents' home to visit someone in secret and now was sneaking back into her room, hoping she wouldn't get caught.

She crawled out of the tent, backwards. Knives turned around and watched her while making a comment about how it was a good idea to meet in his tent.

"You would have had to sit on me in yours."

The idea of that gave Meryl shivers and plenty of mental images.

"See you tomorrow, I guess?" She gave him an innocent, awkward smile as a means to start her escape.

"You know, after this, depending on what we do, everything might become completely different. If there is something you want to do, you should do it now. There is still time. Once we start, there is no going back."

Meryl looked at him.

"You mean, whatever happens in this timeline stays in this timeline?"

Meryl's mind browsed through some things she wanted to do, but never did.

"You are free to do whatever you want. That is one way to look at it. It will have no consequences."

"Like throwing a cake into someone's face?"

"Like throwing a cake into someone's face."

"Like telling your annoying neighbor what you think of him."

"Yes," he said with a slight smirk.

"Like confessing your love to someone to check what he responds?"

"Well, yes, that too." He was looking at her intensely, which made her cheeks warm up. "Do you have something in mind you want to do right now?"

"I think... I do."

"Then do it. Enjoy the state of freedom as long as it lasts."

Now her whole face turned red.

"Let's dance."

"I said _you_ can do whatever you want."

She crawled back into the tent, her face close to his, staring into his eyes. He didn't evade her or move back, as if to challenge her.

"Sleep well, genius."

Meryl crawled out once again and went into her tent.

That night, Meryl slept really well.

The next days passed quickly. Vash and Knives were fighting basically all the time despite appearing peaceful, but Merly could see it now. She could see behind what was obvious.

* * *

Thanks to their assistant and Meryl's higher morale due to Milly's safe return, the remaining work on the shuttle was being done extremely quickly. Also, now that she was sure that Knives' plan wouldn't include any backstabs or hidden agendas, she could fully focus on it.

 _'So you held back without realizing it,'_ commented mental Knives.  
 _'Looks like it.'_

It had been two days since Knives invited Meryl into his tent. After that, they barely had non mission related discussions. Knives dug himself into working and micromanaged his second assistant whose name Meryl couldn't pronounce properly.  
Unbeknownst to her though, her unusual performance messed up Knives' plans in an unexpected way.

Meryl could see the suns setting through the shuttle's windows, taking away their light source and painting the work-space with red and purplish hues. Knives stopped his programming and proceeded to organize his tools.

"We're done for this week," he said.

The assistant started to whistle, took his stuff and went into his tent. Nobody knew what he did in there, and nobody really cared.

Meryl didn't move.

Knives looked in her direction and raised a blond brow. "What's up? You worked very hard, you deserve a break."

 _'How can he act as if nothing happened?'_

"Meryl?" He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. She startled. She hadn't even seen him move in her direction.

"Oh, I... wanted to talk. That's why I am still here."

"Sure." His voice was not exactly fitting to his facial expression. He looked distracted. His mind seemed to be elsewhere even though he sounded as if he was paying attention.

She waited. Nothing happened.

"Ok, so, let's talk about... mh...that 'do whatever you want' thing."

His eyes immediately focussed on her. His expression changed. "An excellent choice of topic," he said. She could tell that all of a sudden, his interest was caught. Whatever he was thinking about, he was either done or put it on hold.

"It shows a lot about a person, like how they test their potential mates for compatibility. Not only does it reveal the true wishes of someone who doesn't have to think about consequences, it also shows if you are capable of overcoming your own mental limits that are conditioned by a world where every action might have a consequence. It shows if you are able to adapt to a completely new situation where risk does not exist and failure is completely irrelevant."

 _'He is back to his lecturing self...'_

"So, did you do what you wanted to do?"

His question caught her by surprise. Meryl felt a bit stuck. She bit her lips.

"Well, that... I tried, but it didn't really work out as expected."

He gave her a hard look. "In this kind of situation, there is no _trying_. You either do it, or you don't. You shouldn't waste your time playing games. As long as it doesn't ruin our mission, you should act as if this was the last week of your life. Which it most likely is. Don't let anything hold you back."

"Well, that would be the rational thing to do, but..."

"Let me guess. You are bound by something. Maybe I can help you somehow. What is it that you want to do?"

He couldn't possibly want her to say it out loud, could he?! Meryl opened her mouth, but nothing came out. _Or maybe_ , she thought in slight despair, _I was reading too much into it..._

Knives looked at her struggle for a momet before breaking the silence. "I had a nice idea. It involves you, and you will most certainly enjoy it. You can consider it some kind of gift from me to you, so to speak. However, I cannot reveal any details now. But I promise it will be the most _exciting_ thing you will ever do."

 _'What is he…?'_ She blushed. _'Isn't he overestimating himself a bit? Or did I misunderstand?'_

"Most...exciting..." she breathed.

He chuckled and Meryl could see the corner of his lips twitching. "Since it is coming from me, your imagination probably just went completely wild. But that is ok. You won't be disappointed, I promise."

Meryl couldn't believe it. Her face turned into a huge smile and her heart started hammering against her chest with the rise of her adrenaline and endorphin levels. She made a few hesistant steps into Knives' direction. Her body was way smaller than his. She put her hands around his waist and hugged him.

"Ok, genius, I will wait for your surprise."

He put a hand on top of her head and whispered "Yes, you do that."

* * *

Two days before the deadline, Milly suggested to have some sort of celebration because of the huge progress they made. And that she shouldn't know about. Meryl froze for a second. It must have been Vash's idea. Did he know about the deadline? If yes, how? She didn't tell him. And what would Knives do?

"Yes, I guess a short pause wouldn't hurt," was his immediate answer. Meryl was confused, but she played along. It was actually a fun evening. Since everybody was there, she was somewhat at ease.

Knives and Vash never let each other out of sight, and they both also watched everyone else.

Milly was busy being the host and forced everybody to play games, until, just before Vash was about to win a match of chess against Knives, the latter commented:

"Looks like my queen is in a dire situation."

"You didn't seem to pay a lot of attention to her."

"I said it looks like it. You were always like this. You are the more capable one of the two of us, but you refuse to use your abilities. You always reject solutions before actually considering them. You explore the part you explore faster and deeper than I can do it, but if I do something you wouldn't, I can always get you by surprise. You do not use your advantage."

"It is true that I am forced to take less elegant ways, but as long as I can make up for it, that is still fine, isn't it? You tried to go the easier way, but you're about to lose the game."

"I will show you what I mean. Meryl, can you get me the memory cube that I didn't install yet?"

Meryl interrupted her discussion with Milly and stared across the campfire.

Vash, not being dumb, offered to accompany Meryl to the shuttle.

"That is where the cube is, right?" asked Vash.

Knives confirmed and had no objection to let him go.

Once out of hearing range, he asked the obligatory question.

"Do you still think he is telling the truth?"

"Yes, I am sure of that."

Vash and Meryl walked next to each other for about a minute.

"Say Vash, aren't you afraid he was planning to lure you away?"

"He can't do anything. Otherwise, he would lose your trust. And for some reason, he absolutely needs you. His plan doesn't work without you. So, the shuttle isn't ready yet because it's not airtight, and a suit is missing, did I get that right?"

"That's how it is." _He really is monitoring our progress closely._

They reached the shuttle. Meryl opened the door and went inside.

"I will wait here. If I go inside and something breaks, the blame is on me."

Meryl was about to say that she wouldn't suspect him, but then changed her mind. He was right, better play safe. She checked an open panel in the cockpit. There were 5 memory cubes in total, 4 with green small lights signaling that everything was fine and one with a red light. She pulled it out.

At the very same moment, the entry door closed and the engine started.

She heard Vash hitting against the door, but it stopped a second later as the shuttle started to move. What was happening? A malfunction? Did Knives set this up? She looked outside the window. The shuttle was accelerating upwards, she was already about 20 meters high. Then, a screen switched on and a text message appeared.

"1. Use the suit."

Without reading further, Meryl looked for the suit. Where did she put it? Ah, behind the seat. She slipped into it as fast as she could. Then, she went back to the screen.

"2. I am afraid I cannot hide our progress any longer, so we're starting a bit earlier than planned. I programmed the autopilot to get you where you need to be. It will take between 10 and 12 hours. To be able to do this, I had to be very sloppy on some other things. You should expect the door to fall off at some point, and the windows might break, and air is definitely going to leak out. As you know by now, you'll do everything alone. But do not worry, it's going to work. I will explain everything to you."

She didn't see a reason to put on her helmet yet. The shuttle accelerated slowly. She remembered Knives' lessons about how the drive worked. It was capable of escaping a planet's gravity while constantly but slowly accelerating, contrary to old rockets that were used before.

"3. My ideal plan was for us to go together. But I just wanted to see it happen, I am not really necessary, _you_ are. The instructions will appear once you have reached your destination. Until then, enjoy some music."

The low quality loudspeakers started to play a mix of nice classical music and white noise. Meryl sat in her seat, both afraid and excited as never before.

Meanwhile, back on the surface, Milly and Knives both saw the shuttle lift off.

"Mr. Millions, why did Meryl do that?"

"Well, I suppose since everything we will do now will be undone soon, I can reveal it all to you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Morality in Question**

 **Final chapter**

 **By the HamsterofDeath**

* * *

 **Morality in Question, Chapter 6**

* * *

Vash pieced it together while the shuttle became a tiny spot in the sky. Why did he not see it sooner? He had let his guard down once; just once, because he had thought Knives would insist on doing everything by himself.

He tore his eyes away from the sky and looked at his feet. He felt his shoulders sag from the crushing weight of guilt, shame and defeat as he was forced to watch yet another person be taken away from him.

* * *

Knives and Milly were standing near the campfire, a distance away from where the shuttle used to be. Knives observed his brother's reaction before his eyes darted to the chessboard. He smiled in satisfaction. Despite being so close to victory, Vash never got the opportunity to take Knives' queen and win the game.

"There was something you didn't tell us?" asked Milly.

"Indeed there was. Meryl is now on her way to a ship that is orbiting around the sun. Once there, she will receive instructions on what to do next."

She looked at him, confused. "Why didn't you go with her?"

"Because I can do nothing up there. I need Meryl to do it."

"Do you need someone small?" Milly's question was not really serious, but she didn't know what else to ask.

He smiled. "In a sense, I did."

"You are very confusing, Mr. Millions."

"Let me simplify it for you. This isn't the first time I do this."

* * *

Meryl was staring at the screen. Time flew by, as fast as she did. The sky turned from blue to black. Eventually, the music stopped, and a beep announced a new message.

"Dear Meryl, if you can read this, it means everything went exactly according to my plan. I am sorry for not telling you this little detail, but it was necessary to let everything take its course. None of us remembers this, but we already went to the ship. You and me. Unfortunately, Vash sabotaged the ship, it broke apart, and...

You died."

Meryl's eyes became huge.

"Vash didn't intend for that to happen, the ship should just not have started and we would have missed the window, but he made a mistake. You were sucked into space and then burned up while falling back down. I was able to catapult myself into the general direction of the Auriga – that's the SEEDS ships' name – and an autonomous drone picked me up. I didn't know about these, I would have missed the ship otherwise..."

Meryl tried to regain her composure, but she couldn't shake away her disbelief and shock.

"Anyway, once on board, I found the computer. It was still running, as expected. What you do not know is the kind of message I sent back. Once on board, in science laboratory 5, you will find a chair with a helmet and a bunch of cables attached to it. You will sit down in it. More detailed instructions will follow later."

* * *

Milly listened to Knives as if he just revealed to her that she was, in fact, a Thomas hybrid of some sort.

"You... you received a message from the future?"

"Yes. The SEEDS researchers experimented on me," he answered with a hint of disgust. "They strapped me to a chair, switched a machine on, and I felt memories being stored in my head. My own memories, from a previous timeline."

At that moment, Vash arrived. He looked at his brother with hard eyes. "You knew it would happen. You knew all of it. You already did all of this."

Knives smirked. "Ah, so you finally pieced it together. You were faster than last time. It was because of the merchants, wasn't it?"

Vash nodded sternly. If Knives knew about them, what they would do, he could set things up and then just let the events unfold. He could use the knowledge from the previous timeline.

"Don't you think this is a perfect end to our story, Vash? We both are letting the one we trust do the right thing: flip the switch and go one way or the other."

* * *

Meryl read the messages a few times. What did she just read?

"In the original timeline, the SEEDS engineers used the entanglement machine on humans. It was a failure. So, they chose our kind as their new laboratory rats. Tesla was the first free born plant to be experimented on. I will spare you the gruesome details, but what was done to her made her hate everyone around her, which is understandable. She tried to send all the ships into the sun, but was stopped. Sounds familiar? Well, she did what she did, and things happened similar to this time. Eventually, she made it to the SEEDS, just like you are doing now. There was no Vash to stop her. She used the computer to send a message back to the past, pretending that everything was fine and that the experiment was successful."

 _I am Meryl 2._

"At first, I did not know exactly what happened. In the second timeline, the scientist that received her message was convinced it was a good idea to use a young boy – me – on the receiving end. They connected me every day for a few months. My previous self eventually figured out why. They were hoping for a new message from the future. They calibrated the whole system to fit to my brain, but no message ever came. I, or my former self, used every chance he got to find out more about this experiment. As it turned out, Tesla died in the second timeline before I was born – she must have changed something by accident and was vivisected. I was used as her replacement. As she did before, I attempted to send the ships into the sun, but I did the very same mistakes as she did and it failed. We must have been very similar."

 _I am Meryl 3._

"So, in the second timeline, things happened almost as they did now, with a few small differences. I reached the Auriga and connected myself to the chair. I tried to send my memories back, so that I would not repeat my mistakes. But it failed. The data of a plant brain is too voluminous for an efficient transfer. I have only a few key memories from the second timeline. Ideally, I would have sent a copy of everything back, but well, I guess that was too much to ask."

Mental Knives had figured it out when he finished reading.

 _'He is asking you to go back into his younger body. Your mind isn't as complex. It requires less data. He wants you to copy yourself into the next Knives. The Knives from this timeline has memories of the previous timeline. He replicated everything to reach this point again.'_

A new message popped up. It contained a detailed description of how to reach the lab, how to activate the computer, all necessary passwords.

"And to answer your last question, the plant Vash brought was poisonous. I told Milly it would be a spice, she tried it, it tasted awful - so none of you ever ate it. I excused myself and said I must have confused it with a similar looking one. The poison caused her to pass out at exactly the right moment. I knew she would be safe, so I know you will forgive me."

She gaped at that bold assumption. "How could you, you jerk!" And he played the innocent part so well that she had found herself doubting poor Vash!

Then a last sentence appeared.

"You are the most powerful human in history. Make the right choices."

Meryl sat frozen for a while. Saying that she was angry would be an understatement. Her emotions were a mess and her mind went into 4 directions at once.

"Ok, stay calm," she said in a trembling voice. "Analyze. He wouldn't just sacrifice you."

Mental Knives saw the chaos in Meryl's head and wanted to help her organize it. "Let's go through it all."

 _He sent me up here. He sent me with no possible escape. I either do what he wants, or die! And if I die, he will just try again in 3 years. If I succeed, he wins. He used me. I was manipulated all the time._

She wanted to cry, to scream. She had put her faith in him. She had cared about him and his plan. She had been ready to die for a lie. He was going to receive all the information he needed to obliterate humanity.

"What is his motive?" asked mental Knives.

 _Why did he do this? I do not understand. This doesn't make sense at all. Why didn't he just crash all the ships the second time he had the chance?_

"These assumptions are wrong. It does make sense."

 _How can you know that?_

"Knives is a rational being. We can run through his thoughts, now that we know about the previous timelines. We can reverse engineer why he did what he did."

 _He is an evil bastard. He just used us all to get what he wanted._

"No. You could decide to ruin his plan forever by crashing the ship into the SEEDS. You know enough about the controls by now to make small adjustments at the last moment. It's possible. Even if you just give it a nudge, Knives would never find the ship again."

 _But I would die._

"If you chose to do so, yes. If Knives is truly evil, he will not care about your death, only about his ruined plan. Would he take that risk?"

 _No, I suppose he would not._

"We know his goal. We know he wants to send you back in time. Do you think he would have preferred to come with you to make sure everything goes according to his plan? Do you think he would have sent you alone, despite that reducing the chance of success, if he had a choice?"

Meryl calmed down a bit. The argument was correct. No matter which scenario she assumed, Knives coming along was always what he should prefer.

 _So he wanted to come, but couldn't. But he knew what would happen. Why didn't he change it?_

"It is Knives we are talking about here. We have to assume this is well planned. If you know what is going to happen, that is a huge advantage, but you can only use it once. As soon as you make a change, everything can change. He followed the events he knew from the previous timeline and only deviated at the very end to stay in control."

 _So... that means..._

Meryl's mood changed. From infuriated, she went to neutral. Then, she even smiled a bit.

 _He trusts me to understand his plan. He did not tell me anything because he couldn't. I would have acted differently, which would have been a risk._

"I think so, too. He cannot greatly underestimate you by mistake, he analyzed you too much for that. He will not assume that you blindly follow orders. So he probably predicted something along the lines of what you would think right now."

 _He trusts me enough to take the risk of sending me alone._

"I think so, too."

 _He has confidence in my abilities to overcome this._

"And more."

 _If he sends my mind back, instead of his own, that means my memories will have a big impact on the past Knives._

"Well, we cannot know how exactly it will play out, but yes, what the next Knives will do will largely depend on you, your memories, your personality, the way you think... you might make him a wiser person."

 _Will I be a voice in his head?_

"Impossible to know. Something like this has never been done."

Meryl looked out of the window that started to show cracks. She was locked to her seat, but was still clinging to a piece of metal that was attached to the wall of the shuttle with her hands just in case it wouldn't be enough.

The planet slowly became smaller and smaller.

 _Let's do this._

* * *

 _ **The end.**_


End file.
